This invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning water containing suspended matter or oil in an efficient way.
Conventionally, apparatus for the above operation are divided into two groups wherein one group comprises apparatus which use coagulating agents and another group comprises apparatus which use no coagulating agents.
The apparatus which use coagulants are employed in big chemical plants or the like and are expensive to construct and maintain.
Although apparatus which use no coagulating agents are not complicated in structure and therefore are inexpensive to construct as well as to maintain, the purifying operation is far inferior to that of apparatus which use coagulating agents.
To solve the above problem, apparatus with a plurality of inclined partition plates that are disposed within the container of the apparatus have been developed. A brief explanation of the purifying operation of the above apparatus is that the suspended matter which is contained in the water drops onto the upper surface of each partition plate due to gravity and then slides along the surface. During the above movement, the suspended matter or particles increase in size since they combine with each other. As a result, the suspended matter is settled onto the bottom of the container whereby the water containing the suspended matter is purified. Generally speaking, this type of apparatus has been less than optimal in its performance.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for cleaning water which contains suspended matter which is characterized by a plurality of inclined partition plates that are disposed in the container of the apparatus at regular intervals in such a way that the plates are slanted with respect to the horizontal and vertical planes.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for cleaning water which contains oil as well as suspended matter which is characterized by having the above structure.